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In The Land of the Free

We flew in the day Osama Bin Laden was killed.  It was, in fact, the news that welcomed us as we entered my cousin's house.

That piece of news bothered me no less.  I was already fidgety because just a few days before that, Gaddafi's sons were killed.  I made a mental note to stay away from tourist spots.

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Our flight in was quite pleasant except for PAL's "exceptional" customer service.  It wasn't bumpy at all so the kids were able to sleep during the flight. We got the preferred seats so Johann and Javi had space to move around when they were finally awake.

There were a couple of  food accidents but WE managed WITHOUT the help of the cabin crew.  They always took a lot of time to get to us.  When they finally did, they spoke to us with THAT condescending tone.  I decided to let it go.  In cases like that, I always showed them saccharine politeness that bordered on sarcasm.  May araw din kayo.

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Immigration was a breeze.  The lines were short.  I don't know why but the immigration officer just HAD to call someone to escort us from there.  At first, I thought they were assisting us because we had two small children in tow.  Apparently, it was a customs officer who "assisted" us from Immigration.  Sinuswerte nga naman talaga kami.  We were getting nervous because I bought a luggage-full of food as pasalubong.  Though I distributed them to the four bags, they may still question them.

The officer asked, "You have raw meat or fish? Balut? Chicharon? Walis Tingting?  To which we answered NO.  I also said we only brought food for the kids.  Then he ran everything through the scanner.

He didn't ask about the suman or danggit.  I guess those passed.

This surprise inspection was a blessing in disguise.  We were able to cut through the long lines going out of LAX.

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Upon arriving at the airport, we were met by my Tito and Tita.  We will be going around the LA area in the next few days.  We're driving to Vegas on Thursday to meet the rest of the clan.  We will be back in LA just be before we fly back.

I am anxious about how the kids will adjust to life in the US.  I hope they won't give us a hard time.

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